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Jeep Wrangler

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Comments

  • cklausingcklausing Member Posts: 16
    Well, the cheapest fix is to put up some sort of baffling behind the speakers. For the fronts, you can get pre-formed enclosures that go in behind the dash speakers. For the soundbar, you can get something similar and/or use some poly-fill to tighten up the sound. As for increased base, I don't know how much this will help.

    As for the factory speakers, they were the first things to go for me. The soundbar speakers were easy enough to replace, but the dash speakers aren't "standard" in their method of attachment, so you'll either need to find some brackets to provide a standard mounting, or build your own. I took the second route, because I was not able to find anything locally, and didn't want to wait to try and order something (I reallized my problem after I'd already ripped out the existing speakers).

    In terms of the actual head unit, I decided on going with a Rockford Fosgate CD/MP3 player. There were two reasons for going with CD/MP3 ability. The first being that with the way the Wrangler rides, I would occasionally get skipping in the CD player. The buffering used for MP3 playback totally removes this problem from the picture. No matter how bumpy the ride, the music plays smooth. I've yet to have so much as a single skip while playing back MP3s. The second being that I like to leave my Wrangler open, rather than locking it and providing a reason for a thief to cut the soft windows/top trying to get in. As a result, I don't want to leave a cd collection out for the taking. I can get 10+ audio CDs of music onto one MP3 CD, and I just leave that in the head unit, and take the faceplate with me. Lots of music one a single disc is a wonderful thing.

    I chose the Rockford Fosgate unit because it was well-rated most everywhere I went, and because of the controls being very easy to use on a bumpy ride and without looking. The volume knob is a real knob, and it is also used for all the sound-tailoring settings. The preset buttons are slightly small, which is the biggest annoyance I've noticed. The scan/seek/track-change buttons are fairly large, and are right next to the volume knob and very easy to access.

    The display is really bright and large. Very easy to see on a sunny day with the top down. Only real compaint is that the deck doesn't have ID3 tag support for MP3s. It's a standard DIN unit, so a mounting bracket is needed as well.

    As far as the order of improved sound quality:

    1:speaker upgrade (put in Infinity speakers)
    2:head unit upgrade
    3:poly-fill in soundbar

    Of course, that is just the opposite of the ordering based on cost:)
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    Which model?
  • markwarren66markwarren66 Member Posts: 32
    Hi-

    I'm new here and have been thinking about getting an 02 soon. I am trying to determine what is really different between the X and Sport, aside from fog lamps, full doors std., and a tilt steering wheel. I haven't been to a dealer yet, so this is just what i've gathered on my own.

    So here is my question- I don't want full doors or tilt, but do want the fog lamps, which aren't an option on the X (from what I can see) - The fog lamps don't justify the extra 1300 dollars to get the Sport- How difficult is it to add fog lamps after I buy it?

    Also- I live in Chicago, want the soft top, but curious how cold it gets in there during the winter.

    Thanks!
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    Just get some decent headlights.

    Go here and ask for Cibie E-Code headlamps.

    If you go with a higher wattage bulb, get the relay/harness.


    http://lighting.mbz.org/


    and read the faq:


    http://lighting.mbz.org/faq/


    don't forget to aim them:


    http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/how_to//aim/


    see also:


    http://www.talbotco.com/cibie_main_frameset.htm


    http://lighting.mbz.org/tech/


    http://www.alfacybersite.com/ACSCibhl.html

  • tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    Whew!

    tidester
    Host
    SUVs
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    I still haven't figured out how to put more than maybe 3 links in the same post without getting an error. You were going to look into that. Any luck?
  • tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    The thing I looked into was trying to get past the 115 (or whatever) limits on the character length limit of a URL. Unfortunately, there isn't any easy way around that - BUT - http://makeashorterlink.com works!


    Regarding multiple links in a message - just enter < br > or < p > (without the spaces!) after each link and it will produce a line break in the text. I am not sure why it's not automatically being done with your links. How, exactly, are you entering the links onto the page now?


    tidester

    Host

    SUVs

  • cklausingcklausing Member Posts: 16
    I believe the model is RFX9000. It was their first entry into the CD/MP3 market. Since then, I know they've released a few other models which include better line-out options, but other than that I don't know what the major differences are off the top of my head.

    I picked it up near the middle-end of last summer, and at the time the number of "good" head units in the CD/MP3 catagory were few. The Kenwoods were having problems with quality control, the sonys were laughable at best, and the only two that I saw that were worth really considering were the Rockford Fosgate RFX9000 and the JVC SH99. Actually, the SH99 was blowing the doors off of everything, but I sadly couldn't find a local dealer and at the time wasn't feeling like taking the risk of ordering something I couldn't check out first-hand. Eventually one of my friends picked up the SH99, and he loves it. It is honestly a bit more feature-rich than the RF, and if you can get past the fact that it is made by a company that is not renowned for their car stereos, the SH99 really is a superb head unit.

    So far though, no regrets. I got everything I really wanted, and none of the stuff that I didn't really need.
  • opera_house_wkopera_house_wk Member Posts: 326
    Just worked on a major sludge problem caused by failure of PCV system. The rubber gromit at the back of the valve cover is prone to swelling and clogging. This connects the vent tube that goes to the intake manifold. Gromit looks fine on top but is disintegrating underneath. You should be able to remove the black tube and easily push down a rod through the hole 1 inch till you hit metal. Check it out.
  • yellowmanyellowman Member Posts: 209
    Hey all

    Well after months of putting it off, procrastinating, and working on the design, I finally got my custom spare tire cover made. As you may recall, I wanted to advertise for my company when driving around town. I purchased a Bestop vinyl spare tire cover from Quadratec for $19.95, then took it in to a local flag & banner store. They told me that, due to the large diameter and shape, they didn't have the equipment to stretch the cover properly to make it flat for printing purposes. Therefore they decided to print my ad on a separate round piece of vinyl and stitch it to the spare tire cover. I used Adobe Illustrator 9.0 to create the graphics (which consist of mostly text with a big yellow happy face and a line drawing of a lunchbox). It took about a week for them to do, but the finished product looks pretty damn good!! It's very smooth and shiny so I'm not too worried about water messing it up. The stitching overlaps some of my artwork, but you can't really tell from 5-10 feet away. Also you can see the outline of the material if you look closely, but again it's not something noticeable from a viewer's perpective from within another car. One thing to keep in mind if you're going to do this - do not make your artwork stretch all the way to the edge, because it will start to bend outward due to the curvature of the tire. I left a one-inch gutter and I'm glad I did!

    Anyway hope this helps anyone thinking of doing a custom tire cover. Oh, the total price for the custom printing was $260.00.

    yellowman
  • dadegrahamdadegraham Member Posts: 3
    For now I think I will leave the head unit like it is to discourage theft. I live in Memphis and it seems to happen ALL THE TIME here :-(

    I will take your advice and upgrade the factory speakers though. Do you think that will get enough bass into the picture or will I have to opt for a one of those powered subwoofers like a Bazooka tube? I am not looking to wake up the neighbors... but as it is now I have no low range coming from the speakers at all and at high volumes it is very distorted. that is the main reason I want to upgrade. Thanks in advance!

    Michael
  • cklausingcklausing Member Posts: 16
    In my honest opinion, I don't think you'll probably end up with enough bass to make you happy. Depending on your speaker choice, the amount of change you get will vary, but you should get some improvement. Problem is that the standard speaker sizes used in the Wrangler and just not really adequate to get good bass out.

    If you are willing to do a bit of cutting, I know some people have been able to fit 6-1/2" speakers into the soundbar by trimming just a bit of the enclosure. This should definately improve things over just doing a straight upgrade to better 5-1/4" speakers. The ones in the dash though are pretty hopeless. Those things seem to distort at any reasonable volume no matter what you put in there. Almost better off to get a bass-block and use the front speakers only for mid-range/highs.

    Another thing to worry about is the amount of current the factory head unit can supply if you are worried about getting distored bass at high volumes. That most likely adds to the distortion as well as the limitations of the speaker.

    If you want "real" bass, you'll probably have to end up going with some sort of additional bass tube. Swapping in new speakers and adding poly-fill to the soundbar did increase the amount and tightness of the bass at lower volumes, but I still get distortion at high volumes. Really noticable in the front speakers, not as much so in the soundbar speakers (though it is still definately there).

    This is also VERY dependant on the frequency range in question. My stuff seems to handle mid-bass just fine. The really low stuff though still reveals the problem (which is what I'd expect trying to recreate it using a 5-1/2" driver). I'd suggest doing the factory speaker swap first along with the poly-fill, and seeing how that upgrade handles the music that you listen to. Depending on your musical taste, that may be enough to make you happy. If you listen to a lot of electronic music or hip-hop/rap/anything-in-this-genre frequently, you'll almost definately want to start looking for some sort of stand-alone sub setup.
  • cklausingcklausing Member Posts: 16
    Well, it's been warm and sunny for a couple of days straight now, so this morning I decided it would be the perfect time to take the doors off for the first time. All I can say is that I'm dreading watching the weather because I just don't want to hear that it might rain and that I'll need to put them back on! I figured I was going to enjoy the whole doorless thing, but I had no idea how much so.

    Nothing really important to say, just really excited about the whole new level of happiness I've reached with my Wrangler. Doors off is going to be the standard so long as the weather is willing to play nice.
  • mtngalmtngal Member Posts: 1,911
    Our day was sunny, very windy and cold. Still no snow. But that's good, since the Wrangler is now sitting in Bakersfield waiting to get the exhaust manifold fixed. Like I thought all along, it's cracked and won't pass the smog test (sigh). Guess that $500-600 touch is going to put off the new roof for a month or two (which the frosty weather we're having would have anyway)! Price to fix is dependent on how many screws break off! I guess I can't complain - this is the first major repair I've had in 94,000 miles.
  • sbspencesbspence Member Posts: 16
    You'll be just as happy with the "X" model, as with the Sport. You can take the extra $$ saved and start your mods! ;) I also live in Illinois and have no regrets about this (my second) soft top Wrangler. The new sailclith tops are great! They really do work wonders in both warmth and sound isolation. HTH!
  • tsjaytsjay Member Posts: 4,591
    Now you know why I was so excited about the "doorless" thing. It makes a HUGE difference in the fun of driving the Jeep, huh?

    Must be nice to live in a place where you can go doorless this time of year!

    tsjay

    Have you hugged your Jeep today?
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    "The thing I looked into was trying to get past the 115 (or whatever) limits on the character length limit of a URL.

    Regarding multiple links in a message - just enter < br > or < p > (without the spaces!) after each link and it will produce a line break in the text. I am not sure why it's not automatically being done with your links."

    I think it is a combination of the 115 limit and multiple links (it thinks they are all one link?).

    "How, exactly, are you entering the links onto the page now?"

    Copy and paste.
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    "I have heard that the 2003 Wrangler (non Rubicon) will feature 3.7L v6, freshened bumpers, removable hardtop panels, upgraded seats, etc.? Any of you think this is worth waiting for? Time is not really an issue... What about the v6? I have heard its crap, but really, how does it compare to the i6 in terms of overall performance?"

    This is all new (news) to me.

    "They really need to put a 4 speed auto option, rear disc brakes, etc. on the Wrangler? 3 speed? Read drums? Whazzzzupwitdat?"

    Is that a question or a declaration? I think the reason they have the 3 speed is because there is not enough room (length) for the larger tranny. The V6 would shorten the engine, and allow room for a longer tranny, from what I've been able to piece together. As far as rear discs vs. drums I don't know, but it is a pretty light vehicle, and discs probably aren't worth the cost when the drums do just fine. Beats me.
  • fivespeedfivespeed Member Posts: 42
    but would like to see a nice ohc unit for practical commuting and limited off road fun.


    I've really changed my mind about silver Wranglers. They are good looking.


    http://www.car-truck.com/image/chryed/buzz/apex4.jpg


    fiver

  • markbuckmarkbuck Member Posts: 1,021
    of $1000 on the new Rubicon. Should have one by late summer.....
  • mac24mac24 Member Posts: 3,910
    Have you agreed a price, or are you just going to pay what they ask?
  • markbuckmarkbuck Member Posts: 1,021
    Salesman at dealer is a buddy. Asked him if they are gonna want sticker. He said no, they'll wanna move them.

    He had quoted me $150 over invoice on an ordered sport '02. Figure I'll pay $200 to $500 over.
  • carlgrcarlgr Member Posts: 1
    Is there a fix to reduce driver door wind noise? I have the soft top-half doors with the zipper windows. At speeds >60MPPH, I notice that the top of the soft door shell sometimes moves back and forth; this leaves a temporary gap of maybe half an inch. The passenger door does not do this.

    Also - when you remove the doors - how do you disable the the interior lamps? I couldn't find that in the owners manual. there's gotta be an easy way to set the switches in the door jamb but I can;t figure it out.

    Thanks!
  • 2001wrangler2001wrangler Member Posts: 112
    I am not sure about your wind noise question, because I have the full doors.

    You can disable the interior lights by simply removing the fuse (behind glove box). It is the one on the lower right corner, but I don't remember the fuse number. Check your owners manual for the fuse number.
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    I took mine out and never put it back.

    It is in the owner's manual somewhere.

    Hey, when you own a car which has zippers and most of the body parts either fold or come off completely, some noise is assumed.
  • jptjjptj Member Posts: 53
    "Red" My 98 TJ turn over 100K on the way to work today. Maybe a name change to Old Red is in order ?
  • tsjaytsjay Member Posts: 4,591
    CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND TO RED!

    Let's hear some more about this! Has "Red" been a good boy the whole time?

    You must do a lot of highway driving to put that many miles on a vehicle. How is Red set up? Is he a Sport or SE or Sahara? Stock?

    Talk dirty to us!

    tsjay

    Have you hugged your Jeep today?
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Check out the Consumer Ratings for your vehicle (both New and Used). Feel free to write your own. (The Rating will be found in the upper right when you drill down to your make and model).

    Steve
    Host
    SUVs, Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories Message Boards
  • jptjjptj Member Posts: 53
    Red is a Sport, auto with air and cruise the only time that he was a" little bad" was at 75K I had to replace the Radiator. I did replace the front brake at 80K but I consider that part of regular maintenance.
    Red is may second TJ I had a 97 SE 5 speed she had 74K when I sold her. The only things I had to replace were the rotors and the catalytic converter and both were under Warranty.
    And yes I hug Jeep every day
  • mtngalmtngal Member Posts: 1,911
    Congrats on the 100,000 miles. My '98 is still at 95,000. Since the weather looks like snow tomorrow, we went over the hill and picked up the Wrangler yesterday. That exhaust manifold is going to put off the new roof for several months. The manifold itself cost $565 and then the labor on top of it brought the bill up over $800! I hope you don't have any problems with yours.

    We did drive the Wrangler today and it is so much quieter! I had gotten used to the loud engine I forgot what it should sound like. I'm not really complaining, since this is the first major repair we've had.
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    For $800, I hope you got some "performance" tubular type headers at least.
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    My 97 Sport 4.0Liter sometimes does not run as smooth as it should or at least used to.

    Just wondering how often people change spark plugs and / or plug wires on their Wranglers.

    I thought I remembered seeing here somewhere that there are some certain types of plug to avoid (I hear splitfire suck no matter what type of car), and one particular one to try to get. What would that be? Anyone?
  • watiiwatii Member Posts: 21
    I am considering a wrangler. For economic reasons used is my best option. I have found a 1994 Sahara 5 spd with 47,500 miles. Dealer is advertising it at $10,990. I feel like i will be able to talk down 2k, which would mean $9,000. does this sound like a Good Deal? Does anyone know of any significant problems with this model. All comments appreciated.
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    I got a 1997 Sport with 53,000 miles for $13,000 in August.

    If I were you, I'd go for the 1997 or newer. It is worth it for the new design. I'd imagine you could get a 1997 now for maybe $12,000.
  • wheelsdownwheelsdown Member Posts: 250
    You are on the best site I know of for getting good price information. Just use the stuff Edmunds gives you. I have found the TMV feature really good for figuring a fair price for either buying or selling. Several people I know have also used it and found it useful.
  • wheelsdownwheelsdown Member Posts: 250
    OK, I give up. Where do I find this Customer Rating thing.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Heh, it is a bit of a search to find. Try going to Used Cars, then drill down to your 2000 Wrangler. You should be here:

    http://www.edmunds.com/used/2000/jeep/index.html#wrangler

    Click on the Wrangler model and you should be here:

    http://www.edmunds.com/used/2000/jeep/wrangler/index.html

    The rating bar will be towards the upper right of the page. Clear as the mud on your fenders?

    It's similar for other models (except click on New and drill down for, say, a shiny new Liberty). I'll search for a generic link shortcut too.

    Steve
    Host
    SUVs, Vans and Aftermarket & Accessories Message Boards
  • twylietwylie Member Posts: 619
    I'm using the Bosch Plats in my Jeep and they helped a bunch in smoothing out the idle.


    http://www.ewylie.com/jeep/mods.htm#sparkplugs


    Yours will be different in that mine is distributorless, but the plug numbers are the same for the 4.0. Champion or Bosch is a matter of personal preference. I've always used the Bosch Platinums since they are generally good for 60k+ miles, but the plugs in the 4.0 are super easy to get to and changing them could be done in 15 min. You may read that "platinum plugs are bad for a Jeep". I have found absolutely ZERO credible evidence of this. To each their own.


    HTH

    -twylie

  • jptjjptj Member Posts: 53
    My stock Manifold is long gone. When the warranty expired I installed a Borla Header, Turbo City Rock-it Air Tube (with a K&N Filter) and exhaust system. This gave me a little more pep and a around 2 M.P.G. increase.
  • jeepheadjeephead Member Posts: 49
    As summer is right around the corner, I am thinking of getting a mirror remounting kit for my 2000, so when I take the doors off, I still have mirrors. Does anyone have any experience with this? What types of issues should I be aware of and look out for? Any info would be appreciated.

    JeepHead
  • mtngalmtngal Member Posts: 1,911
    Sounds like a great set-up. Wish I had thought of going that route before I did something about mine - 2 mpg means a great deal with that thirsty 4L. Unfortunately, it is already done. It is much quieter, now, and while I hadn't noticed before, but the performance had been affected - it has better pickup on the hills. Since our regular commuter is a 4 banger and also since the weather has been so dry, I hadn't been driving the Wrangler to work - just to wander around the mountains, so I hadn't really noticed the less power. Now I notice a distinct difference in power between the two.

    Now if we can just get that forecasted snow for today, I'll be happy!
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    You mean the 97 4.0Liter has a distributor and yours does not? What year did they change?

    I am not sure if I am ticked or happy to have a distributor.
  • anonymous02anonymous02 Member Posts: 1,538
    Maybe it had the same power, you just didn't use it with your foot all the way into it to save the ears.

    :-) :-(

    ?
  • cklausingcklausing Member Posts: 16
    Actually, I was in the same boat not too long ago, and have just finished my initial test run with the mirrors that I picked up. I ended up ordering the pair of "Quick-Mirror II" through Quadratec. These come with mounting hardware that attaches to your windshield hinges, and this hardware can be left on, even when the mirrors are not in use.

    My only experience has been with these particular mirrors, but I'm sure at least some of it carries over to others as well:

    1) The actual installation was a breeze. Had to go out and pick up the proper torx bit to get the bolts out of the windshield hinge, but it took very little force on my part to get them out, and the entire install time was roughly 10 minutes for both sides.

    2) Getting the doors off was fairly easy as well, but I quickly decided to leave the bolt caps off of the door bolts when I put the doors back on. They don't really seem necessary, and it is just one less step that I have to do which risks putting a big scratch in the side of my jeep. (Also, make sure to undo the door-restraint strap before attempting to lift the door off the pivots. This sounds obvious, but I wasn't paying attention and the first door I lifted off was still strapped to the inside of the jeep....)

    3) As for the add-on mirrors themselves, the passenger side mirror in the "QM-II" pair that I bought is a really funky looking thing. I assume there is a legit reason for this, but I really wish they'd just have included the same mirror arm as they did on the driver side. I'd have to go look at the mount bracket, but I think you might be able to get away with buying two driver-side mirror packages, and just flipping the bracket on one of them to mount it to the passenger side.

    4) At least for the "QM-II" setup, the piece of the bracket that actually holds the mirror arm needs to be postioned such that the hole that accepts the arm is on the front side of the car. Kind of difficult to put into words, but you would know what I'm talking about if you actually see the hardware. This is necessary to limit one of the below problems.

    5)As for the actual mirrors, there are some serious issues that you have to make sure to work around. If you are going to be using them at highway speeds, that is going to put a LOT of torque on the mounting hardware. This won't damage the mount at all, but since at least with the QM-II model, everything is held in place using friction, so there is nothing actually "locking" the mirror in place. This is a real problem with the passenger side mirror. Because of it's funky arm, wind places some serious torque on the mirror in such a way that it WILL rotate while you are driving. I hand-tightened that thing as far as I could get it, and it still would start to move about the time I hit 50mph.

    The driver side mirror is a bit better. It has a long arm, but because of the way it sticks out (which is totally different from the passenger side arm) the torque gets applied in a different plane, and as long as you make sure you took into account the info in #4, the mirror shouldn't move a bit.

    6) The "QM-II" kit came with some really tiny hex-bolts to lock the mirror arm in place with. These things are REALLY easy to mis-thread, so be super careful.

    Last minor annoyance is that the mirrors make a whistling sound at high speed. Not a huge gripe by any means, but it is noticable.

    All in all, I ended up not even using the passenger side mirror. I've contemplated ordering a second driver-side kit and using the arm from it to attach the passenger side mirror in the same fashion as the driver side, but it isn't essential. The driver side mirror once properly attached has worked great. I've had it up to about 80mph just to see if it would hold, and it didn't budge a bit. If they'd just have not used such a funky mount arm for the passenger side, I'd have been completely happy.

    Well, that is my experience so far. Overall I'm satisfied, but just be aware up front that if you are going to be driving at highway speed with the doors off, make sure the mirror kit you end up going with is capable of handling the torque. Looking back, I'm thinking I may have been best off just getting some of the relocation brackets and moving the factory mirrors off the door and onto the jeep body itself. Don't know if that would have given me the best position or not, but at least the factory mirrors don't have long arms on them and hence aren't as affected by the torque that wind causes......
  • mtngalmtngal Member Posts: 1,911
    How true, how true. Or it could be that with all this dry weather I forgot what it was like to drive it on the freeway (good weather we take the more economical Tacoma). Oh well, my other half and I are going to different places this weekend, so I'll be driving the Wrangler to Vegas! Even though it takes longer (I drive slower) it is still more comfortable on long trips than the Taco!
  • ccladrewccladrew Member Posts: 1
    I've been looking at replacing my soft top. There are a few types out there. Want to get an opinion on the different kinds. What about these Sailcloth or something. They say they are the quietest out there.
  • twylietwylie Member Posts: 619
    I think the TJ switched to distributorless ignition in 2000. Should be more reliable and less prone to water issues. The newer ones have a coil bar that covers the plugs.

    -twylie
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